Monroe County, IN flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Monroe County sits at the 80.8th national percentile, a middling flood hazard by national standards; driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 1.6 times a year. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Monroe County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Monroe County's mapped high-risk flood zone (the Special Flood Hazard Area, or SFHA) are legally required to carry an NFIP flood policy. In practice, 16.4% of them do — 83 active policies against 506 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.4% of all residential structures in Monroe County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Monroe County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Monroe County ranks 630 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 478 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 140,702 people live in Monroe County, Indiana, spread over 394.523 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Monroe County
FEMA counts 44,396 residential structures in Monroe County overall, 169 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Monroe County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. If you're unsure why any of this insurance requirement exists at all, the SFHA explainer covers it from first principles.